Track limits penalty for Giovinazzi puts Kobayashi’s Toyota on pole at Spa · RaceFans

Toyota claimed pole position for tomorrow’s Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, but not in the straightforward manner many expected from the team which has dominated the Hypercar category early this season.

Kamui Kobayashi put the number seven Toyota GR010 Hybrid on provisional pole with less than three minutes to go in the 15-minute session. But just as in Sebring, the two Ferrari 499Ps were every bit as quick over a single lap.

Antonio Giovinazzi in the number 51 Ferrari didn’t look like a threat for pole after he spun on his own at the bottom of La Source, and got stuck in the middle of the circuit while trying to drive away. But in the last minute of qualifying, Giovinazzi put together a blistering final sector to take the top spot away from pole position with a lap time of 2’00.777.

What would have been Ferrari’s second Hypercar pole in three races was short-lived, however, as Giovinazzi had his best time deleted for exceeding track limits at the exit of Malmedy (turn seven). While the excursion did not aid his lap – in fact, Giovinazzi lost time skipping over the gravel – it was still a breach of a zero-tolerance policy as all four of the Ferrari’s wheels strayed across the white line.

This meant that the 2’00.812 from Kobayashi would be good enough for pole position, giving the number seven Toyota he shares with Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez its first pole of the season and Toyota’s second in a row.

But while one Toyota will start at the front of the Hypercar grid, the number eight car of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa will start at the back of the 13-car Hypercar grid after Hartley crashed two minutes into the session.

While trying to build the temperature in its tyres, Hartley’s car got unstable at the top of Raidillon, spun, and crashed into the tyre barriers. While Hartley was able to walk away, some observers used the nine-minute red flag to point the blame of the incident squarely at the WEC’s new rules prohibiting any sort of tyre warming devices – in the latest of a string of qualifying accidents from drivers on cold tyres. A large gust of wind which rushed through at the moment that Hartley passed through the corner, would not have helped the Kiwi driver maintain control of his vehicle.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Behind the number seven Toyota, the two Ferraris qualified second and third, led by the number 50 of Miguel Molina ahead of Giovinazzi. Molina was the provisional…